Discussion on:

Tech pro feeling squeezed out by manager

As a technical manager, the last thing I want to be responsible for is a high profile software product that has a single point of failure (i.e. the single expert that "owns" it). My first move would be to understand the application then look to mitigate my risk.

In an economic downturn I might be looking to cut costs and eliminate a high cost employee in favor of an outsourcing solution. I would want to gather as much information as possible without giving out much until I could determine the course I want to take. Very few managers want to know applications from the inside out to look good - that isn't their job. The best move of the expert is to try to develop a candid relationship with the manager with the knowledge that the manager isn't going to share with you everything he knows but you are obligated to share everything you know about the application. Don't forget who you work for. Withholding information is the quickest path to finding yourself looking for a new job.

Sounds to me as though this manager is just trying to do his job - remember this product is the property of the company you work for, not yours!

To quote Col. Sherm Potter: "HORSE HOCKEY!"

The 'just doing his job' remark sounds like an obvoious get out of jail free card to someone who uses the same mercenary management style.

Part of the manager's job description is to further enhance the career development of his or her employees. I don't see that as happening here.

I actuall started my reply with "BAsed on your comment, you must obviously be the same type of manager", but I dropped it in an effort to not be confrontational. Thanks for saying it like it is.

JB

The manager does need to exercise sound ethics. As raubin has said here, a manager's success can be seen by the career development provided to his/her supporting staff.

Yes it's company property, but there's still something to be said for self-preservation in a tough job market.

I say compile all the messages you sent to you immediate supervisor (the one likely taking credit for your ideas and efforts), and go over their head to the powers that be. I say this because if your instincts tell you your days are already numbered, you probably have good grounds to feel that way.

More bluntly put, through him/her under the bus. You;ve already been stabbed in the back so there's not much else to lose if it's looking grim.

Disclosure (1994) with Demi Moore and Michael Douglas.
Doesn't matter how high your integrity is. It is stressful working with office scum that either exploit their position in the company or aggresively maintain the impression of having greater value than you (while standing on your shoulders). Just cover your you-know-what.

I had a similiar experience with a company and if I would have went over my manager head and had discussions with VP's I may have kept that job.
As is was, the manager took all the ideas, gave all the credit to another I.T. professional that he over promoted twice, (and could not do the job), but CYA prevailed.

This guy has been the inherent recipient of a ****** product, and his actions are responsible.
Please accept that he'd feel somewhat responsible for his actions, yet have no responsibility for the actions of any external contractor.

The only thing that evil needs to succeed is for good people to say, "It's only business."

I developed a program to deal with this situation. It allows me to log my progress on every task so I can quantify my contributions. As a result I have the stats to argue for my inclusion on most any project, deal with a potentially "hostile work environment" and leave the situation with an efficiency report if I have to leave. Without me I calculated a 600% reduction in efficiency. This is really my manager's job but it gives me the reassurance I need should things go sour. So far so good. With my efficiency reports I received a letter from the highest ranking officer in our building who endorsed my request for "key and essential status." So take that Mr. Manager!!!
If anyone would like to see a demo of my program then email me at kapcomm@hotmail.com. Otherwise, good luck with finding a new job.

Good 1 Ben, and very true!

Give him the answers to his questions, however; you do not have to volunteer your vision or ideas. You may have already said too much. If your boss or company can't tell the difference in quality between you and an offshore operation then you probably do want to look for a new employer. I would act more confident and less defensive but don't volunteer valuable ideas and visions unless there is some indication that the company or boss respects your abilities. Sometimes it is best to say less and keep them wanting more.

Good idea - and if they are stupid enough to let you go before they have gathered all the proper information, then you can charge them some crazy-ass consulting fees as revenge (muah hah hah).

Your manager may be trying to do his job as he sees it. This, however, does not excuse his secretive, manipulative style. Confronting him probably won't work, as his style is part of his personality which you can't change. You can protect yourself using some of the ideas in these posts, while searching for a new position and waiting for your manager to be transferred, promoted, or otherwise disappearing from your life.

I totally agree with Smith. No matter what you do, you cannot change the manager's personality nor can you get rid of him.

In most situations like these, I have noticed that the higher ups support the manager and if anything the whistle blower comes out looking bad.

I wouldn't recommend drastic measures or even hopping your manager and reaching the higher ups. Doing that will only sour your relationship with your manager and higher ups. Instead just try to speak less, get conservative and continue doing your job.

You do have one recourse. Should you accept a position elsewhere just because you can no longer stand to work for your manager any more (and I've seen this happen before), you can state exactly that in your exit interview. That might sould like closing the bard door too late but it does make a big difference to the company if they can clearly see that they are losing good people because of a jackass. In addition, you might be doiong the friends you left behind a big favor. And since you are leaving, it will be at no cost to you.

It's called opportunity cost. You never know just when burning that bridge will cost you. I've heard of people doing exactly what you state - only to find themselves in need of employment years later and guess who was on the other side of the interview table?

Never burn a bridge. In your exit interview, simply state that a better opportunity has arisen, stress how important your time has been with your current company, list things of value you brought to the company (and vice versa), and then make a graceful exit.

You won't score any "haha" points, but it's an insurance investment for your future. You just never know what the future holds and who shall be holding the keys during troubling times.

All too often in cases like this we over react and miss out on a future with a good company. Nevertheless, The consequences of your instincts being right are far greater than if they were wrong. How many folks in this company have to be oblivious to the real talents of your manager in order not to recognize he may be taking credit for something that is not his design. If he is indeed 'just doing his job' what type of an organization would not foster the growth of its people or at the very least warn them that the future rules out a permanent position for their skillset. A reputable company that had seen the value of off shore outsourcing (and in many cases, it is there) would have transitioned the in-house developer to a contract position with clear terms on contract termination, meanwhile justifying the companies decision with something we all understand...money.
I would encourage you to begin looking for opportunities elsewhere. Do it casually but with a purpose...in other words be serious about finding more work but without letting your current employer know. When you have discovered simlilar or even more prosperous possibilities, you will have the confidence and insurance to confront your manager about your true feelings and concerns. If it works out that you were paranoid, you win, if indeed, your future is limited with the company, you have plan B.
It is not a matter of disloyalty to continuously evaluate your options in the market. The company may reward you for staying through the tough times, but when it's down to the last dollar and it's between you and a shareholder, they are not going to pay your mortgage.

If this boss is meeting with higher ups & telling them about your ideas, why not ask your boss to include you in the meetings? If he says no, then I'd start to be suspicious. He may think it's a great idea to have you explain yourself instead of him having to do it for you.
If he doesn't & you really want to make sure you're getting credit for your work, I'd go over his head & tell his boss you want to be included in the meetings. At least that way, those involved would give you credit for your work.

You will know by his response whether or not you should be updating your resume.

"Sometimes it is best to say less and keep them wanting more."

Reminds me of a book. Law 4 (Always say less than necessary)

So, based on your comment - the boss' job is to take all the information from his subordinate, lean on him for all the documentation, and not share any of the discussions based on that information with him?

That's not what the boss' job is and to try and say so is ignorant.

I agree the boss should have access to that information but the developing situation and the information that goes along with it should definitely be shared back down the other way.

I'm lucky enough that I have never had to deal with this, but unlucky enough that I had the extreme displeasure of working for literally one of the absolute worst bosses IN EXISTENCE, both as a human being and as a director-level professional.

Just Doing his job is not accurate; there are much better ways to do it, even if eliminating a SPF is the goal.
I am also the technical expert on a number of things, and I have worked with my manager to document, do peer reviews on the documentation, etc. so that if I win the lottery, the process will remain robust. There is no reason the engineer would not be included in the communications. None whatsoever. To leave the Subject Matter Expert (SME) out leaves the opportunity for error and mistranslations. The only reason for this exclusion is a knowledge transfer, not share.
This may be the time to take a sabbatical or extended vacation; now that he has positioned himself as the expert, let him answer the questions!

I seem to remember that if a person creates a product on company time, the patent is jointly owned by the individual and the company. The law may have changed since then. Are there any lawyers who can verify one way or the other?

Software that falls under copyright law is the property of the programmer if the programmer did it on their own time, with their own resources and it wasn't part of the their assigned work task.
If any of these conditions aren't met, then the company retains full ownership unless otherwise stipulated in prior agreement.

If the company had the employee sign something at the beginning of the employment, the entire idea/project belongs to the company.

of today's IT manager. Most IT people do not want to be in a managerial position. They love what they do and generally have a great work ethis. As a result, most of those who are willing to accept a management position have never been a programmer, or else they knew that would be unable to sustain a career in programming due to a lack of ability. So, they do what any talent-free, ladder climber does: they become butt-kissing yes-people who will throw anybody under a bus to get promoted. And, also typical of IT managers, they love the kind of person who will kiss their butts and do their dirty work for them. It's sickening because most IT people out there know that they do not have a supportive manager. They know that their manager will happily fire anybody for any reason if they knew it would please the manager's manager. These kinds of people have no compassion, empathy or spine. Their whole career cann be summed as "kissing up and kicking down". I worked in an insurance company for many years and most of the IT managers fit this description. Frankly, I don't know how any of them could look in the mirror and like what they see..!!

Assuming I can trust that this story is pretty accurate, this sounds to me like your boss is not a very good leader. Good leaders know how to collaborate with people at all levels of the organization. They have no fear of giving all the credit for everything that goes well to their subordinates, and accepting responsibility when things go bad.

I suppose the action you take depends on how badly you need this job, and how quickly you think you could find another one. You have a couple options. It sounds like you only recently started reporting to this person, so you could start with an up-front approach and ask to go to lunch.

If accepted, you can be open about what you're seeing, and how you feel about it. Your boss may have no idea that his actions are being interpreted the way they are, and will volunteer to change some things so you are more in the loop with what's going on, that there's more of a partnership, and he starts to give you credit with superiors for the work you're doing.

If he reacts defensively to your feedback, then things probably aren't going to change, and you have the option to escalate to a higher level of management. If you have a relationship withone someone higher up whom you trust, you can go to that person and lay it all out on the table. There are obvious risks to this approach, but that goes back to how much you need the job.

All in all, it doesn't sound like a very good situation, so you might want to start looking for a new job with another employer.

Life's too short, so if you're dealing with all kinds of stress related to this job, here's some very wise advice I received many years ago that I always keep in mind when it comes to making my career decisions - adapt, migrate or die.

As you mention the Econonmic downturn, perhaps the manager knows his days are numbered and by offerring up "his" experience with the product can save his hyde while getting rid of the true knowledge expert.

It's happenning in my environment now.

I agree that the manager is, in many ways, just doing his job. The 'single point of failure' issue is valid. But this company has already had difficulty with their offshore developers and now this manager is making this productive and knowlegable employee feel expendable. Yes, they may want to go back and do the grunt work offshore but to risk losing the technical oversight of this developer is not a wise move. The behavior maybe makes procedural sense but is sorely lacking in the people skills of a good manager. The manager is doing his company a diservice.

I was once told by a manager that the fastest way to kill your career was to make yourself "indispensable". By this he meant that if you are the only one who can do what it is that you do, you will never advance in your career. Always do everything so that someone can come behind you and pick up the reigns so that you can move forward with out being tied
down.

I used to do development work for a marketing company, and just after developing a multi-million dollar product was asked "so what are you doing for me now." Any project has a life cycle. By trying to hold onto the past, you take your self out of position for the next best thing. Be honest and forthright, don't demand answers but let a manager know you understand there are developments behind the scenes. Demonstrate your abilities on this product, but try to position yourself for something new. You won't be able to stop outsourcing by being uncooperative, and you'll lose the goodwill you need.

This very topic came up recently in another forum. The individual was being told their "indespensability" was the reason why they couldn't be promoted into management. Although I don't buy that excuse, it sure sounds good. They can always train someone else and have you knowledge transfer.

It is true that if you have someone "indispensible", it is difficult to promote them. But a forward looking manager who is focussed on creating "depth" in the department, and readying people for management, will make a project of making sure that there are "backups" for most major functions.

I insist that before someone can go on vacation, someone else can cover their function. This is for people who have operational rather than project type duties.

James

Most small- and medium-sized businesses can't afford a large IT staff, so getting full crossover in jobs between just a few people is VERY difficult. Sometimes, you have to specialize in certain areas just to keep things moving. In my case, I am one of TWO IT staff, and we handle everything from DB management to application development to VPN's to helpdesk support for almost 2000 employees. While I have petitioned for additional resources, my efforts thusfar have been in vain. Do you think we have time to crosstrain? Not on your life. As a result, we each have a specialty that the other is less than competent in.

That being said, I've been in similar shoes to the individual involved. While I'm sorry to say it, he has few things going for him. A new manager means no effective relationship, which is being demonstrated by the communications. He has already disclosed the vision and mechanism (the genius) behind the program without getting anything in return. The outcome is going to be dependent largely on the integrity of his boss and higher-ups. IF (and it's a BIG if) they are honest, they will make him a project manager over the project - even if much of the actual coding gets sent to an outsourced vendor. If not, this individual will have to watch as his project/pride/joy gets marketed by someone else and he gets no credit whatsoever. Even worse, he may be watching from the unemployment lines.

I wish him good luck.

The trick is dispensable, but not dispensed with. The fail in this case, (and mine in the past), is in order to accomplish that trick you need information.
I've seen more than several pro's fall into the indispenable trap, some by circumstance, some by design, I feel some sympathy for the former, the latter can take care of themselves....

If this philosophy didn't/doesn't work at your company, than you don't want to work for them anyway (company will go belly up, just a matter of time)

I once worked for an organization filled with one person departments. In such places, it's really easy to get rid of the person in charge of that department.

And I believe a lot of places have it set up that way so they can do just what others have suggested - get rid of the person who's the only one who knows the department and the work. More and more businesses are going to discover this is a cheap way to save money. So it's going to happen a lot more, IMO. Rather than follow the Japanese example of the C level taking the first paycuts and retaining lower level jobs whenever possible, we get rid of lower level jobs and let executives take home bonuses when the company they're heading is failing.

There are a lot of underhanded ways to ditch the "one man" in the department once there's a chance someone will object to one person having so much power. This pretty much revolves around the fact that no one person department can ever take vacation or sick time without messing something up for the organization. Then they get overworked, tired, may lose their health, come in sick, make an error, and out they go.

And heaven forbid someone in their family needs their help in a caregiver role. That's one of the quickest ways to get fired; people have actually been ordered to put their sick family member in long term care that cost more than they made a month. After all, there's a reason why President Obama is trying to stop discrimination against caregivers in finding employment. That is one of the quickest ways to get fired.

The other way to get the boot, especially if you're near that vesting mark, is to be disabled and need accommodation. I can tell you the ADA has a lovely "get out of jail free" card for that - they just say it would cost too much, and/or reduce quality and/or cut productivity. Any disabled employee who insists otherwise has to prove the employer lied. The employer doesn't have to prove a thing.

I'm afraid our SME who emailed their situation is in a lose-lose position. There are some things this person can do that have already been suggested, like trying to get in on the meetings, having a job to go to if things go south when the person tries pushing back, etc. But if this manager has been directed to cut costs, then our emailer friend is probably on the receiving end of "cut production costs, the fixes this person put in will hold us, and we are down one FTE and benefits expenses," and it's doubtful they'll succeed in their fight unless they're not close to being vested, are completely healthy, can work 16 hour days, and don't have any family that needs their help.

First of all, the subject was tapped to share HER VISION of the future direction of the application, not the company's vision. It's his/her intellectual property, blood, sweat and tears here and she's being squeezed out by a penny pincher whose sole motiviation is to advance his career.

Why should the subject bust his/her ass to further the career of a bean counting IT manager. Since it's the subject's vision and IP, the subject should demand (tactfully) to know what's going on. If they're indeed trying to squeeze him/her out then the subject should be hesitant about sharing her vision with him.

All of it - Your vision, "his/her intellectual property, blood, sweat and tears" etc - that's company property. Even if you are an "independent" consultant or contractor, if you are working at their discretion and at their directive, it belongs to them. You want to be the owner, start your own company. Should there be co-operation - seem like on the surface and that would be good from a growth standpoint to keep the ownership pride in the product. But you don't have any knowledge of the upstream pressures or directives. Got good ideas and you dig your heels in and won't share until somebody throws you a bone? That's the quick way to answering the phones. Crappy deal? Yep. Business isn't always about you, sorry.

Why should she let someone use her ideas to advance his career? "It's all about the business" my ass!

It's not a perfect or fair world, but if you work for this person, when the economy picks up and the balance of power shifts, move to a company that actually treats people with a little respect. This type of management leads to high turnover of staff and staff that don?t share or work together. You will learn a lot more and be a lot happier with a good company, and frankly you spend so much of your life there, it's really something you should enjoy.

Do your best for the current company, but update the resume until you find a good company.

Each contract will specify who owns what if you are independent. If the company owns everything then they usually are paying by the hour and IP is a work for hire. If you are delivering consulting or a product for a fixed price then it can be negotiable. For 20 years I have had a mix of both types of contracts.
He also doesn't have to volunteer everything an employee thinks. I know of several employees who came up with ideas while employed and went out and started their own business around that idea. However, you are always open to being sued if the company thinks it has a good case that you developed that idea while doing work for hire.
Either way most reputable companies spell this out specifically as to who owns what.

Unless you have signed a contract stating that IP and deliverables are owned by the company. That is your stuff too. You should read up on IP laws.

You have the right to make a copy of it an re-use it as you fit. Even compete with the product.

The key question here is: Are you an hourly employee or do you have a contract with the company you are working for?

If you have a contract you should check it to see at what point you can re-negotiate it.

As an IT professional you are like other critical components, an asset of the company. As an asset it does not pay the company to have you unhappy and not doing your best work.

The key to your success within this or any other organization is for you to prove your value to that organization on a continuing basis. Make certain that the leadership in your organization is aware of what your contributions do to help the organization be successful. Try to do this by using your chain of command. If your message is impeded by your immediate supervisor ask to talk to their boss. It is critical that you be prepared with documentation as to what you bring to the table and what you need, (in terms of recognition/support), to do your best job for them.

Your message should be: "my goal is to help this company be as successful as possible, please help me do this!"

my goal is to help this company be as successful as possible in return for a suitable a reward, please help US do this.

I couldn't agree more! But sometimes companies start out like that, then see themselves beaten in short term market share by companies that use and abuse their people.

In the long term, companies that use and abuse people will have so much turnover the products they put out won't be worth much in the long run, and the company that treats people right will move ahead. But too many places opt to quit being nice because in the short term, it does look like nice guys finish last.

Shareholders can be pretty demanding of rapid short term growth at the expense of long term viability. It takes a very strong, ethical management to manage shareholder expectations for the long haul. A company that abuses too many people will fail if surrounded by more ethical business models. But it takes a lot of guts for a company to stick to treating employees right for long term growth when it looks like the bad guys are winning.

I don't mind people going all out getting what's best for them, the company, the shareholder or their dog. What I find irritating, is the idea that I'm not meant to do the same for me. It's easy to get me to work for you, just make sure it's in my interest to do so.

There's no rocket science to this stuff, reward me and I work, don't and I won't. I aren't doing this crap for a laugh.